Gungrave

We are taken back into the past of Brandon in Harry, when they lived in the slums of Billion. The rest of their gang is Nathan, Jolice and Kenny, they steal and wage gang wars for their local crime boss, Descartes. Their most recent tiff being with Deed(who they soundly beat), a two-bit punk who is the younger brother of the legendary gangster Mad Dog Ladd. Maria, Brandon's blonde love interest who lives with her uncle, Jester. Kenny, now sporting a magnum revolver, gets a tip from the local informant, Scott, to steal a one-of-a-kind necklace, but Scott betrays Kenny to Milanda, the jewel dealer Kenny stole it from. Harry, Brandon and Nathan return the stolen necklace to Milanda, who spares their lives. They return to their hideout to find Jolice shot dead by Mad Dog Ladd, who is exacting revenge in order to uphold the family's honor. Jester is visited by mysterious men in black, who have a message for him from a man named Big Daddy. « read less

Brandon, Maria and Harry wonder what to do with the rest of their shattered lives. Bear meets with a Millennion agent named Randy who tells Bear that he's going to meet with Maria. Harry and Brandon rough up Descartes and his men, and Descartes sends his crew after them. Maria is met by Big Daddy, who promises her a safe life at his mansion, he does not mention the fact that they are Mafia. BD and Maria go to visit Jester's grave, but Maria sees Brandon and Harry shooting it out with Descartes' guys there. BD sends Randy who scares off Descartes' guys. Harry asks to join Millennion and Randy tells Harry to put the squeeze on Descartes if he wants in. Brandon and Harry rob him blind after threats that the Mafia is working with them. Harry and Brandon depart with Randy and Maria with BD. « read less

Brandon and Maria have lunch and chat while Brandon realizes how much he enjoys his life, not even realizing that men in black are tailing him, and that upon returning to work he is given the order from high-up never to approach Maria or her school again. Men in black take Brandon to BD, who invites Brandon to fish with him. BD tells Brandon he can visit Maria at the mansion whenever he desires, and the show then cuts to Widge telling the story of BD, who apparently turned Billion from a rugged wasteland into a sprawling metropolis to protect his friends and loved ones. Later on, Brandon has a dream involving all his new and old friends looking at him and smiling, ending with a slightly younger Harry who pulls out a gun and fires, followed by images of all the people Brandon has seen die. The following night, a big party is being held with BD as a guest, a party Randy protests considering the Lightning gang's current unrest towards Millennion. While this discussion goes on, Bob's excellent information-gathering skills pull through as the listening devices he planted in the room are shown. Harry uses the gathered info to stage a brutal counterattack on the arriving Lightning members. One of the Lightning gets through before hand and pulls a gun at BD, Brandon pulls a gun on him and shoots him dead while also taking a hit himself. « read less

Harry and Brandon arrive at the family party and are inducted in. Bear meets up with an old friend, Cid Garalde. Bear has also brought his daughter, Sherry, who immediately falls for Harry, but remains very shy about it. Cid and Bear discuss the Syndicate's future until Bear finds out that one of his guests from Algeria was murdered on Bear's island. Harry begins looking into members of the family to find any traitors. It turns out Cid's son, Eddie, killed the Algerian to prove himself to his father. For the Syndicate, his action was treason, and the iron law of the Syndicate is NEVER betray. Cid's father helps his son to escape, now Cid must suffer the punishment for aiding his son. Bear cannot bring himself to do it, but Brandon arrives to finish the job. « read less

Dr. Tokioka works in a laboratory among the bodies of Blood's associates, following injections, their bodies begin to bulge and move in searing pain. Brandon and Bunji lie in wait for the Lightning's supposed ambush, only to see Blood standing on the sidewalk, upon flicking his cigarette into the air and declaring war, the city is rocked by explosives planted all over town. Following this incident, pale men in suits appear and assassinate Millennion executives, seeming completely impervious to bullets. Brandon and Bunji head into Lightning territory while Harry comes to grip with how the situation has gone so far out of hand. Blood corners and captures Brandon and Bunji, and asks Brandon to join him and hand over Big Daddy, Brandon agrees. Brandon starts buying up guns with powerful shells to tear the deadmen apart with, while Harry catches Lee leaking info on Millennion to Lightning. Brandon shows up with no BD, Brandon intends to end the fight here, where as Harry and Lee's fight, one of gun vs needles, has just begun. « read less

Maria, after not seeing Brandon for three years, begin to suspect and wonder many things about what's really going on in her life. Harry has effectively taken over 80% of the business in Billion, with Bob working intel, Lee in the underground deals, and Brandon as the symbol for a new Millennion. Harry is planning to marry Sherry, and Bear still has issues with their relationship, as he thinks Harry sees Sherry as only a means to an end, though Sherry loves him dearly. Bunji is on edge a lot recently, and ends up botching a simple assassination, to which Brandon harshly reprimands him, it is only Bunji's pride that is hurt. Big Daddy continues to lie to Maria, though she reveals she has known the truth for the last four years. Big Daddy then reveals Brandon no longer visits because he feels he doesn't deserve to see her happy, yet he continues to do everything to make her happy. Harry returns to Dr. Tokioka, who lives in the now abandoned facility where Necro-Rise was invented, and tells him to continue to research. Much to Harry's surprise, however, Dr. Tokioka had never ceased the research, he even has three prototypes waiting in the wings. « read less

Brandon remains loyal, Harry takes more and more of the pieces on the board for himself, Maria and BD are in love, and BD is set to name the next heir to Millennion. Everything seems to be going smoothly until the deciding meeting. Harry and BD stare each other down and then, as a complete shock to all present, BD names Arzac Tino(a character we don't know) as the new leader. Harry is the first to clap, followed by Bear... Later, when Harry returns to HQ and finds Bob listening device still plugged into the meeting hall, he hears a conversation between BD and Brandon, where Brandon convinces BD that Harry would never betray, but that Brandon would kill ANYONE who did, leaving Harry on the other end speechless. Three months later, while Harry and Brand are hanging out, Harry mentions to Brandon that Arzac has "mysteriously" gone into a coma and while the two are driving away, Brandon says they should stop by the cemetery to visit Kenny and the rest, but Harry seems to have forgotten who Kenny is at first. The two look upon the graves and reminisce, and as they pass the orphanage where they met Harry decides to buy it and rebuild it right. Harry and Brandon walk onto the elevator and head to the 25th floor. Harry asks Brandon to kill BD so that Harry can gain full power and Maria can belong to Brandon. Brandon punches him in the face and pulls out his Beretta, aiming it at Harry. In the end, however, Brandon can't bring himself to shoot his best friend, so Harry pulls out his own gun and shoots Brandon repeatedly in the chest, followed by a kill shot to his left eye. « read less

Dr. Tokioka wonders whether he should have fulfilled Brandon's request to be brought back from the dead, he does this while clutching a mysterious letter in his hand, addressed to Big Daddy. Harry and company survey the damage at the lab, when suddenly one of Dr. Tokioka's lab techs, Ragnarok, appears, offering results that the show the Necro-Rise formula has greater effects on the dead, and offers to head up a new research, Harry agrees. Maria's butler, Tokioka, meets secretly at the park with is brother, Dr. Tokioka, and it has apparently been 15 years since last they saw each other. The butler gives his brother a care with money in the trunk, and the doctor says his last job is to get the guncase and letter to Big Daddy. The letter is from Brandon, in it he talks about how he knew everything that Harry was doing, yet he hoped that in the end, it would be good for Millennion, but that if Harry ever strayed from that path, that Brandon should be around to do something about it. BD goes to visit Brandon, the doctor is keeping him in a laboratory within a 16-wheeler. BD asks the doctor to let Brandon sleep forever, the doctor give BD the guncase, and that if he should ever need Brandon, that this case should be brought before him. BD decides to confront Harry, leaving Maria in the butler's care. BD pulls a gun on Harry but Bunji shoots the gun out of his hand. BD tells Harry that Brandon knew everything all along yet he continued to trust Harry. Harry snaps and kills Big Daddy. « read less

This is a re-telling of episode 1, with some of the footage dropped to make way for flashbacks and a few new sequences, like an extended bridge fight scene involving Brandon's use of the Demolition Shot(from Gungrave PS2), Death Blow(a really big rocket from his coffin), to finish off the armored tank on the bridge. This episode also contains more elaboration on Brandon trying to come to grips with his shattered memories and a longer boardroom meeting. « read less

The episode begins with Bear confronting Lee, who has gone insane with rage at the knowledge of Bob's death. Lee asks Bear that when they locate Grave, to leave him for Lee to finish off. Cut to Bunji, who has dug up Brandon's grave to convince himself of the truth, Bunji then fires on the cross adorned over it. Brandon, Mika and T are laying low while in the distance T watches Millennion agents gather around the perimeter. Harry ponders as to how a Necro-Rise could beat a Superior and realizes it was Brandon and Tokioka 13 years ago that stopped the rampaging prototypes. Brandon and Mika save a man who is being harassed by agents, and the bodies are later located and reported to Bunji, who tells all the units to pull out so he can take Grave out. Brandon takes Mika to visit Maria's old apartment, and Brandon reminiscences, however they are soon greeted outside by Bunji. Bunji blames Brandon for the current state of things, and Brandon gets Mika to flee. As they begin to square off, Bunji thinks the match unbalanced, and reveals a detonation device to linked to bombs all over the area, to which he detonates. Bunji then unveils yet another new trick, a rifle loaded with a chemical substance that paralyzes & deteriorates the Necro-Rise state. More of the bombs are set off, after which Bunji begins pumping one shot after another into Grave, asking him why he betrayed, but Brandon remains silent. As Bunji is about to execute Grave, Mika comes from the shadows with her revolver aimed at Bunji, saying Brandon would never betray. Bunji doesn't care, he wants to kill Brandon because he left the five of them and then turned around and attacked. Mika continues to plead for Brandon's life, Bunji gets frustrated and begins shooting around her, she continues to weep and scream, and Brandon slowly rises to his feet and begins to badly beat Bunji with his one working arm, but Mika soon pleads Brandon to stop. Later, as T is healing Brandon, he notes that this will drop Brandon's fighting capacity by 30%. « read less

T gives Brandon a blood transfusion to return his full strength while a message from Millennion plays in the background declaring that Brandon must meet at the subway to pick Mika up. Mika awakens inside Millennion HQ to the sight Lee and Harry, and she condemns them for their murders. The pair tell Mika she is simply bait for Grave, and Lee points out that upon Grave's arrival, he will kill Mika. Meanwhile, T works on mysterious new ammo for Brandon's guns. Harry and Bear discuss Lee, who has been sent with 150 OrgMen to kill Grave. Bear suggests that Harry slow down, as Millennion's backbone is crumbling and that the OrgMen can't solve all his problems, plus most members on the board don't support Harry's violent actions. Bear declares that if Lee is defeated, he will take on Grave, Harry remains extremely confident in Lee's abilities. While Mika waits in the subway, she asks Lee what her father was like. Lee admits he had a great deal of admiration for BD, it is simply that BD lacked any ambition that bothered Lee. Lee notes that since Harry is now the head of Millennion, its policies have changed with him. By this logic, Lee says that Brandon's actions couldn't have been seen as anything but betrayal, and Lee laughs at the idea that Grave still continues to fight for BD after death, and also at the idea that a former lover is fighting to protect another man's daughter. Mika grows angrier by the moment, but the rumbles from above indicate that Grave has arrived. T speeds to Brandon's locale to presumably deliver the ammunition he was working on earlier. Grave reaches the transit area where Lee and Mika wait, and after putting a blade to Mika's throat, Lee gets Brandon to dispose of his armaments. Lee then asks Grave if he killed Bob, Grave nods and Lee begins the fight. He first uses physical moves for entertainment purposes, then he pins Grave to a subway car using one of his blades so that Grave can watch while he cuts up Mika. Lee then transforms into his Superior state. Before Lee can attack, T activates the lighting system in the subway station, distracting Lee long enough so that Grave can remove the blade that holds him. As the subway car leaves with T and Mika as passengers, Grave fires at Lee to keep him away, only to find that his bullets do very little harm to Lee. Grave hops onto the subway car and shoots Lee off as it speeds away. As T hands Grave new Anti-Superior ammunition, Lee slices off part of the subway car and appears, causing T to dive to the floor with Mika, and Mika passes out. Lee continues his onslaught anew until T loads Grave's weapons with the new ammo and tosses it to Grave. Grave fires repeatedly into Lee, and the Superior begins to disintegrate, falling off of the subway car onto the tracks. Lee looks upon Millennion and mourns that his life had to end here, he then becomes dust in the wind. Grave returns to Mika's side only to find that T has been mortally-wounded by Lee. T asks Grave for one last favor, which ends up being a longer-term blood transfusion. T guesses that it will last Grave ten days at best, and as T ponders his long life of regret, he passes away, Mika finds him dead the next day as she awakens. « read less

We see Harry, walking through the now decimated remains of Ragnarok's laboratory, who stops to stare at the last standing pod where the OrgMen are grown. Flashbacks of the night previous occur, in that we see Grave running through the complex, shooting every OrgMan and piece of equipment in sight. Ragnarok watches on, horrified, realizing that, in the end, it was Tokioka who was the superior scientist. The city streets are now completely deserted, with the exception of Mika, who stands silent in the middle of a road. Bunji sits quietly on a set of steps overlooking the city, petting and talking to his cat. Harry is pacing within his home, stocking up on munitions while Sherry tries desperately to find out what all the commotion is about. Harry assures Sherry that nothing is wrong, and she looks into Harry's eyes and asks him to promise that he won't die before she does, leaving Sherry all alone in the world. Suddenly, their butler, Harrison, enters the room and draws a gun, apologizing to his master. However, before he can pull the trigger, the Overkills take him down, ever loyal to Bear's daughter. Meanwhile, several of the remaining board members of Millennion are disturbed by the news that their assassination attempt has failed, and thus they try and decide what to do about the OrgMen and Overkills under Harry's control. However, they have now convinced most of the undecided members to join them and they have an ex-employee of Ragnarok building them special anti-OrgMen weaponry. Biscoe, their apparent leader, tells the board to leave Grave alone in his actions. Harry and Sherry, protected within a cadre of cars, is suddenly attacked by men wielding automatic rifles and rocket launchers. This attack wipes out most of Harry's bodyguards, but a lone OrgMan protects Harry's car and gets him to safety. Grave, on motorcycle, reflects on a conversation he had with Mika earlier, in which Mika asks Grave is they are family, Grave smiles and responds "yes," and as Mika holds Grave closer, she realizes that his flesh is hardening and beginning to breakdown. As Grave walks from his motorcycle up the Millennion HQ's steps, in his midn he goes back to that scene, where Mika is begging and pleading Grave not to leave, to forget his revenge and just leave town with her. Grave tells Mika that the future means nothing for him, and as Mika breaks into tears again, Grave tells her she'll keep on living. Grave gives Mika a restrained punch in the chest, and Mika falls unconscious. Grave enters the HQ and, as a small cat runs past him, Bunji pans into view opposite Grave. Grave fires a shot into a Bunji's hand, but the hand simply regenerates. The two foes rush at one another. Harry takes Sherry to a hotel, promising to take down the Millennion members that have betrayed him. As Harry shares a kiss with Sherry, a ran with a gun runs into view, screaming Harry's name and firing wildly, taking down Harry's last remaining bodyguard. Harry pulls out his gun and shoots the man dead, only to find that a stray bullet has mortally wounded Sherry in the heart. With her dying breath, Sherry thanks her husband, and Harry cries out her name. Elsewhere, Grave and Bunji are shooting it out, with neither of their shots seeming to affect the other. However, Grave is suddenly stunned by his face beginning to crack open loses track of one of his guns. Bunji grabs Grave's gun and the two men stand there, both using Grave's powerful armaments and aiming them at one another. Two shots go out. Mika, seen leaning in a doorway, quietly with dead eyes, sings softly to herself as we're shown Harry driving down the road, Sherry's body leaning against his, a single tear rolls down from Harry's right eye. Grave enters Harry's office and sees the picture of their gang when they were kids. His right arm falls to the ground and shatters, likely being the place where Bunji shot him. And Bunji, slumped against a statue in Millennion HQ, smokes a cigarette as blue blood pours from his forehead. Bunji's cat runs up quietly to him just as Bunji fades to dust, leaving behind only Bunji's shades as the cat finally reaches him. The cat circles his master's shades once and moans. « read less

Bunji’s cat wanders the streets, chasing his master’s ghost. Grave and Harry enter the clubhouse and sit down in their old booth across from each other. Harry reflects on how Brandon was brought back and if Brandon truly understood all of what Harry had really been doing the whole time: the murders, necrolyzation research, everything. Harry believes that Brandon hasn’t changed a bit in all these years and asks Brandon why he didn’t kill him back then. Brandon responds that he believed that Harry could become “Millennion.” Harry revels in what he believes to be true, but Brandon tells him that Millennion isn’t just about power and control. Brandon and Harry each see one another as the one who betrayed. Harry pulls out a bottle of bourbon from the year they were born and proposes a toast. Harry realizes that Big Daddy’s words were true, Big Daddy was the original, the whiskey, Harry was only a derivative, bourbon. However, Harry sees Big Daddy as evil as his crimes, but Brandon points out that Big Daddy knew his mistakes and still tried to seek “harmony” in all things. This, Brandon says, is what Millennion is all about. Harry can’t stand Brandon’s loyalty to Big Daddy, and tries to figure out where things all went so wrong. Harry then lays Brandon and Harry’s guns from the elevator sequence, which ended in Brandon’s death, on the table. As they draw their guns at one another, they share a memory of a cloth blowing in the wind, obscuring the sun. They both turn and fire at a Millennion agent at the window, and we’re shown reinforcements gathering all around them. As the agents open fire on the building, the two men join sides once again, attempting to stave off the forces surrounding them. As Brandon dives in front of Harry, Brandon takes two bullets to the chest and pins two of the assailants to the ground, gun drawn. Brandon looks into their eyes and decides to spare their lives. Harry demands to know why Brandon is defending them; the agents outside are equally confused. Biscoe reports to Mika that they have located Brandon, but that they cannot let her near him as he is presently with Harry. Mika pleads to Biscoe to call off the agents on Brandon, but Biscoe repeatedly insists that he can’t. Mika rushes from the building to the slums of West District. As Brandon and Harry fight off the agents, Harry is hit in the chest, and Brandon continues to use non-offensive techniques to defeat the soldiers. Meanwhile, soldiers armed with anti-Necrolyze munitions began to take up position near the building. Harry and Brandon both begin to see visions of the past, all their old friends, and all the comforts of a simple life. Harry asks Brandon again why he now protects Harry, after all that Harry has done to him. And as Harry realizes that all he ever had in the world is gone, he asks Brandon to kill him. As he does, a grenade lands at the other side of the building, and Brandon quickly dives on top of Harry to protect him. Meanwhile, Biscoe gives Mika a ride to the slums. As Harry begins to fade, he remembers all the people he loved, only to realize that Brandon stands over his body, protecting him. Brandon rises up from the rubble and takes down two of the swat troops that just arrived and is then shot in the leg with an anti-Necrolyze bullet. Harry tosses Brandon his own gun, and in doing so draws the attention of the rest of the troops, and Harry is shot repeatedly. Brandon rises slowly from the ground, Harry’s gun in hand, and let’s out a cry of both anger and agony. Elsewhere, Biscoe is trying to call off the attack. Harry, staggering to get up, crawls over to Brandon who has just collapsed on the floor. Brandon realizes that he made a mistake in choosing Harry over Millennion, but that he has no regrets and could never shoot Harry. Once more the two drift back to the memory of when they were children, chasing that cloth in the wind. They both wish to go back to those days and both raise their guns to the other’s head. They both pull the triggers and… As the credits begin to roll, we see Mika rushing out of the car to Brandon, images of her last encounter with him flashing through her mind. As she approaches him, agents and troops stand in silence around a sight the camera doesn’t reveal. Mika looks upon this and smiles, realizing what a true family is. The credits continue to roll, showing various characters throughout the series calling out the names of Harry, Brandon, and even Grave and “aniki.” We see the younger Harry and Brandon lying on the ground, after just having been beat by the caretaker of their orphanage. This is where the two first meet. They shake hands, the director’s name appears, and we hear Mika say, simply, “welcome home.” « read less